Death By Piano Release Honest Debut EP ‘Countdown’

Death By Piano is a new darkwave project from Greywolf and Kalen Lister. They are set to release their debut five-song EP Countdown on March 30. It includes the duo’s reinvention of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene,” as well four original compositions.

“DBP is an incredibly collaborative project, not only between Greywolf and I, but also between us and other collaborators such as No Surrender (production) and Robert Lux (visuals),” Lister said of the project. “The collaboration isn’t always about creating things simultaneously in real time. There’s a lot of trust that allows for independence in the process, as well. Greywolf and I share logic sessions from the back end, creating different versions of our songs, at time not just being additive with new tracks but greatly manipulating ideas and iterating on an initial seed.

“At times this means that a single seed sprouts many songs or song parts, other times it simply means that completed track can end up in a very different place than when it started. We trust that we’ll come to a consensus in the end but give one another plenty of space to play, be, and get weird.”

Death By Piano Give Us a Trippy, Trance-y Treat

Three singles — “Caves,” “Jolene,” and “Countdown” — have been released leading up to the debut EP. “Countdown” in particular shines with a sound that is deep but not burdensome, a quality reminiscent of the likes of The xx.

Beyond being a trance-y trip, Death By Piano aim to reflect the honest realities of life: the highs, the lows; the light, the darkness. Acknowledging the existence of one doesn’t negate the existence of the other. And it is with those lows that the highs come, just as it is with darkness that light comes.

“Death by Piano has taught me a lot about allowing things to be what they are and what they want to be,” said Lister. “Unsurprisingly, that’s resulted in some of the most honest music that either of us have made to date.”

“When Kalen and I were writing the Countdown EP,” Greywolf added, “we were conscious of maintaining a level of honesty within the music. We wanted to talk about the lows as well as the highs, the darkness as well as the light. Above all I want the listener to know that whatever they may be dealing with in their life, they are not alone.”